The Monitoring Monthly newsletter connects our cooperators by providing updates and insight into our latest projects. Our work would not be possible without support from the U.S. Forest Service Eastern Region State and Private Forestry and the University of Vermont.

News and Updates from FEMC

We have a number of exciting news items to share that will be of interest to our community. Read on to explore!

Become an FEMC Community Scientist!

Tree-of-Heaven Early Detection is a community scientist project managed by the Forest Ecosystem Monitoring Cooperative (FEMC) intended to document the presence and absence of Tree-of-Heaven throughout Vermont. The information collected will be invaluable for the management of two invasive species: Spotted Lanternfly and its preferred host, Tree-of-Heaven. Spotted Lanternfly can have detrimental impacts on tree species, including our beloved apple trees, sugar maples, and timber resources. Intrigued? Worried? You've come to the right place! Visit the project page to learn how you can get involved in locating the Tree-of-Heaven in Vermont.

Reach out to nfcutler@uvm.edu if you have any questions!

Let’s Find Some Trees!

Pisgah Carbon Report Now Available!

We are excited to share the report on our recent project “Estimation of Pisgah State Park Carbon Storage, Sequestration, Emissions and Removals”

This project analyzed inventory and harvest data from the Pisgah State Park in New Hampshire to quantify the relative quantities of storage and removals on the Park. Forest inventory data from a range of sources were assembled and analyzed for carbon storage and sequestration. Harvest volume data were assessed to quantify the amount of carbon removed in wood products from the Park. Scale slip data from trucks were used to quantify the emissions due to transport of material for a single sale.

The FEMC partnered with the New Hampshire Division of Forests and Lands for this project to address the role of forest management in carbon sources and sinks. Read the report here.

Pisgah Carbon Report

Browse Assessment and Data Census

Browsing by ungulates is a significant pressure on the resilience of forests in the Northeast with potential implications for the composition and structure as well as interactions with other stressors such as a changing climate. Various efforts are underway to document and track the effects of browse and understand how browse pressure impacts forest regeneration and composition. Building on FEMC’s work on the Northeast Forest Regeneration Data Network and extensive collaborative network, FEMC is conducting a data census to identify data available and methods used in monitoring ungulate browse across the Northeast.

This is a collaborative project that is dependent on the input and expertise of those who work regularly with deer browse and browse impact assessment. We have been conducting key informant interviews to gather knowledge about the state of deer browse in the Northeast and we will likely host working sessions throughout the process. If you would like to contribute, be interviewed, or have a data source you think we should be aware of…please let us know!

Take the Survey!

Field SOP

FEMC is excited share our new Field Standards of Practice (SOP) document for the Forest Health Monitoring field season.

FEMC’s Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Justice (DEIJ) committee has been working on this document since Fall of 2021. The document grew from an increasing awareness that the FHM program did not have any guiding written material beyond our field science manual. While that manual focuses on how to take care of the science, the Field SOP centers on how to take care of the people, including the staff, technicians, and partners involved in the FHM program. This is a first draft of the document, and we hope that it continues to evolve with the FHM program.

The DEIJ committee held a working session at FEMC’s 2021 conference. We had fantastic conversations with cooperative members all over the region about the need for more conversations and actions surrounding this topic in field science. We shared the Field SOP with the working session attendees first to incorporate their feedback into our work.

We are so excited to be engaging in an ongoing conversation about DEIJ in the forestry and field science world. We welcome anyone to reach out with thoughts, questions, feedback, etc. about this document or any other aspect of our DEIJ work.

Field SOP

Data Archive Series

Have you ever wondered what is buried in FEMC’s data archive? Each month, we will feature a dataset from our archive. We hope that highlighting a new dataset monthly will spark some curiosity. Let us know if you find anything exciting in there!

This month was amphibian crossing month! Did anybody get to see the frogs and salamanders cross the road? I visited Shelburne and saw over 100 frogs, but only one yellow-spotted salamander.

A quick search of “salamander” on the FEMC website showed me that we have several datasets available about salamanders and other amphibians. Some of these datasets even go back to the 1980s! Check out this dataset on amphibians in the Holt Research Forest. We also have vernal pool photos from the late 1990s! Those salamanders would be as old as me!

If you are getting really excited about salamanders, check out this community science project at North Branch Nature Center. There might still be a chance to see some amphibians migrating!